"And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but few."
Joshua 7:3
This verse talks about an interesting situation where Joshua almost automatically does what he has before with the armies, and he accepts the spies' recommendation here, sending out a small army, which promptly runs away from the enemy, embarrassing the Israelites on the battlefield.
It seems the spies and the prophet expected the Lord to fight their battles for them, as he had done thus far, so without asking him beforehand, they just went through the motions, expecting him to back them up.
There are several lessons here in the story. One is obedience, but another I think is avoiding overconfidence, which I think is what faith turns into when we forget to include the Lord in our decisions.
Today, let's remember to counsel with the Lord rather than just living on autopilot. Let's talk to him and give space for him to tell us about any lessons we need to learn or any change of focus, so that our reminders don't have to be quite as dramatic.
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